The country’s best-known stand-in for St. Nicholas, known as 'Sinterklaas' in the Netherlands, is to bow out. On December 5, the Dutch people - as to Christians everywhere - celebrate the feast day of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, sailors, and the city of Amsterdam, among others. Sinterklaas is the basis of the secularized figure of Santa Claus in North America.
For the past 25 years Bram van der Vlugt served as the stand-in for "the real Sinterklaas" during holiday commemorations in the Netherlands where St. Nick arrives on a boat and then, mounted on a horse, participates in parades to the delight of children. According to holy tradition, in Anatolia St. Nicholas endowed girls with dowries and thus allowed them to marry instead of being sold as slaves.
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